The head of the United Nations department of peacekeeping said that 500 more troops and 600 more police are needed in South Sudan to help monitor the implementation of the peace agreement and to improve protection of civilians.
Herve Ladsous, the Undersecretary General for Peacekeeping Operations, said in a statement that the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) needs to protect more civilians outside of its ‘protection of civilians’ sites where nearly 200,000 people have taken refuge.
“It is important to note, however, that increasing protection outside of the POC sites fundamentally requires the cooperation of the government, as well as that of UNMISS’s troop contributing countries, who have at times proven reluctant to undertake the proactive and forward-leaning posture required of the task,” Ladsous said.